The 12th Special Forces Brigade "Azov" () is a formation of the

National Guard of Ukraine The National Guard of Ukraine (NGU; , ; /NHU ) is the Ukrainian national gendarmerie and internal military force. It is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for public security. Originally created as an agency under the dire ...

formerly based in

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

, in the coastal region of the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

, from which it derives its name. It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion (), a self-funded volunteer militia under the command of Andriy Biletsky, to fight Russian-backed forces in the

Donbas War The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. It was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014, and redesignated Special Operations Detachment "Azov", also known as the Azov Regiment. In February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Azov was to be expanded as a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

of the new

Offensive Guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tende ...

. As of April 2025, the brigade is part of the 1st Azov Corps, a newly created formation led by former Azov Brigade commander Denys Prokopenko. The unit has drawn controversy over its early and allegedly-continuing association with

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

groups and

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

ideology, its use of controversial symbols linked to

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

, and early allegations that members of the unit participated in human rights violations. At its origin, the unit was linked to the far-right Azov Movement. After its integration into the National Guard, the unit was brought under Ukrainian government control, and observers noted a government strategy of integrating far-right militias into the regular military while attempting to limit ideological influence. Some experts argue that the unit has depoliticised, deradicalised and distanced itself from the Azov Movement since its integration into the regular Ukrainian military; others remain critical and argue that the unit remains linked to the movement and to far-right ideology. The Azov Brigade has been a recurring theme of Russian propaganda. The regiment's size was estimated to be around 2,500 combatants in 2017, and around 900 in 2022. Most of the unit's members are Russian speakers from Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine. It also includes members from other countries. The regiment gained renewed attention during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

alleged that Ukraine was controlled by far-right forces, such as Azov, and gave "denazification" as a reason for the invasion. The Azov regiment played a prominent role in the siege of Mariupol and made its final stand at the Azovstal steel plant. The siege ended when a significant number of the regiment's fighters, including its commander, Denys Prokopenko, surrendered to Russian forces on orders from the Ukrainian high command. The unit has been designated a terrorist group by Russia since August 2022, after which Russia began sentencing Azov

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in sham trials.

History

Background and founding, February–April 2014

According to right‑wing radicalism researcher Vyacheslav Likhachev, Azov had many roots. The brigade was founded by the activists of Patriot of Ukraine, Automaidan, Social-National Assembly and other organisations active during the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

Nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

researcher Andreas Umland wrote that the Azov was created by "an obscure lunatic fringe group of racist activists" and has "a contradictory, if not paradoxical history of cooperation" between organizations involved in its creation – Social-National Assembly, Patriot of Ukraine, Misanthropic Division, Bratstvo, anti-Euromaidan and Russian neo-Nazi figures. Andreas Wimmer wrote that there is a connection between extremist groups within Ukraine and the Russian intelligence services, which use the far-right groups as a

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

tool. According to Wimmer, Russia contributed to the growth of these groups and exposed their extremes to indirectly support a Russian narrative. Extremism researcher Kacper Rękawek notes that Russian members of Misanthropic Division infiltrated the Social-National Assembly and later Azov, and later Azov had to take steps to get rid of MD's influence. Russians from the so-called Russian Centre have also joined Azov. According to Katerina Sergatskova in

Hromadske hromadske (; lit. ''Public'') is an independent online media in Ukraine. The station was announced in June 2013 by 15 journalists, before commencing operations on 22 November 2013. It is registered as an NGO.ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...

of FC Metalist Kharkiv named "Sect 82" (1982 is the year of the founding of the group),"We are trying to come to power through elections, but we have all sorts of possibilities" – as "Azov" becomes party
,

Hromadske.TV hromadske (; lit. ''Public'') is an independent online media in Ukraine. The station was announced in June 2013 by 15 journalists, before commencing operations on 22 November 2013. It is registered as an NGO.the pro-Russian unrest when a separatist movement was active in Kharkiv, Sect 82 occupied the

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

regional administration building in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

and served as a local "self-defense force". Soon after, a company of the Special Tasks Patrol Police called 'Eastern Corps' was formed on the basis of Sect 82, which would join Azov in 2015. Sleeve insignia of the Black Corps

In February 2014, Andriy Biletsky, a far-right political activist, founder and leader of the ultranationalist organization Patriot of Ukraine and the related Social-National Assembly (SNA), who had been previously arrested in 2011 accused of robbery and assault, although his case had never reached the courts, was released from prison after the new government considered him a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

of the former Yanukovytch government.Bereza, A.
Andriy Biletsky. How war changed a political prisoner into a commander of the Azov Battalion
'. "Novoye Vremya". 22 October 2014 After returning to Kharkiv, he rallied some activists from Patriot of Ukraine, SNA, the AutoMaidan movement and some ultras groups, and formed a small militia to help local security forces against the local pro-Russian movement in the city. Biletsky's militia, and later the Battalion, was known as the "Black Corps" (), and nicknamed by Ukrainian media as the "Men in Black" or "Little Black Men", touted as Ukraine's version of Russia's Little Green Men due to their secrecy and mystery, as well their use of all-black fatigues and masks in Kharkiv and later in

. During March 2014, as the unrest in Kharkiv worsened, the Security Service of Ukraine and the

Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, 3=mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə, 5=, ) were the police forces in the Soviet Union until 1991, in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), and in the Non-Aligned Movement, non-aligned Socialist Federal Republic ...

pulled out from the city, the Black Corps started to patrol the streets, protecting pro-Ukrainian activists and attacking pro-Russian ones. On 14 March, members of the pro-Russian militant organization "Oplot" (which would later become a separatist military battalion), and the head of the

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

branch,

Alexander Zakharchenko Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko (26 June 1976 – 31 August 2018) was a Ukrainian separatist leader who was the Russia-installed head of state and prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed state and Russian-backed ...

(who would become Head of the Donetsk People's Republic) and of the Anti-Maidan movement, attempted to raid the local Patriot of Ukraine headquarters. The Black Corps retaliated with automatic weapons, and the situation escalated into a firefight between the two groups, leading to two dead on the pro-Russian side. At that time, the Black Corps had around 60 to 70 members, mostly lightly armed. Initially, the militia was mostly funded independently of the state, with Jewish-Ukrainian billionaire and oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi as their primary financier. Umland notes the crucial role of Dnipropetrovs’k regional administration, headed by Kolomoyskyi, in Azov's creation. When Azov deputy commander Ihor Mosiychuk made antisemitic comments about Kolomoyskyi, he was removed. Among other early patrons of the battalion were Oleh Lyashko, a member of the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

, ultra-nationalist Dmytro Korchynsky, businessman Serhiy Taruta, and

Arsen Avakov Arsen Borysovych Avakov (, ; born 2 January 1964) is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from ...

. The battalion received training near

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

from instructors with experience in the Georgian Armed Forces. By April, during the initial phases of the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

, the

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

suffered a number of defeats and setbacks against the separatists, as they were ill-prepared, ill-equipped, lacking in professionalism, morale, and fighting spirit, and with severe incompetence in the high command. Because of this, many civilians created

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

s and

paramilitary groups A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

, known as " volunteer battalions", to fight the separatists on their own initiative.Margarete Klein
Ukraine's volunteer battalions – advantages and challenges
Swedish Defence Research Agency Report, RUFS Briefing No. 27, April 2015 Most of those who joined, including Azov, were Russian speakers. As the situation in the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

deteriorated, on 13 April 2014, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov issued a decree authorizing the creation of new paramilitary forces of up to 12,000 people. The former Black Corps was initially based in Kharkiv, where they were tasked with defending the city against a possible pro-Russian uprising, but as the situation in the city subsided and calmed down, they were deployed further south to help in the war effort. They were then sanctioned by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry as a unit of the Special Tasks Patrol Police, and became officially known as the "

Azov Azov (, ), previously known as Azak ( Turki/ Kypchak: ), is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. The population is History Early settlements in the vici ...

" Battalion, which was officially formed on 5 May 2014 in

Berdiansk Berdiansk or Berdyansk (, ; , ) is a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Berdiansk Raion. The c ...

Special Tasks Patrol Police, May 2014

The battalion had its

baptism by fire The phrase baptism by fire, baptism of fire or baptism with fire is a Christian theological concept originating from the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11. It also has related meanings in military history and popular culture. Christiani ...

in Mariupol in May 2014, where it was involved in combat during the First Battle of Mariupol as part of a counter-offensive to recapture the city from separatists of the self-proclaimed

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

(DPR). On 13 June, together with fellow Special Tasks Patrol Police battalion Dnipro-1, they retook key buildings and strongholds occupied by separatists, killing at least five separatists and destroying one enemy

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car designed and developed ...

armoured vehicle and one armored truck during battle. After the battle, Azov remained as a garrison in Mariupol for a time, where they were tasked of patrolling the region around the

to prevent

arms trafficking Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms, explosives, and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal tra ...

from Russia into separatist hands, and was briefly relocated to

.Azov Battalion announced signing of new warriors
, ''TSN News'', 20 May 2014. On 10 June, the battalion dismissed deputy commander Yaroslav Honchar and distanced themselves from him after he made statements critical of looting and debauchery in the Azov Battalion. Ihor Mosiychuk became deputy commander. On 10–11 August 2014 the Azov Battalion, together with the Shakhtarsk Battalion, the Dnipro-1 Battalion, and the

Ukrainian Army The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

, supported an assault on the city of Ilovaisk spearheaded by the Donbas Battalion. The performance of Azov was criticized by fellow members of the Donbas Battalion and by a later report by the commission of the Verkhovna Rada on the failures of the Battle of Ilovaisk, which criticized Azov of arriving undermanned and late to the battle, and failing to cover the flanks of other forces. During the initial assault, Azov suffered heavy losses. The Azov Battalion helped to clear the city of separatists and reinforce Ukrainian positions. However, in late August they were redeployed to garrison Mariupol once more, as a detachment of troops from the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

was spotted moving into Novoazovsk, 45 km east of Mariupol. Later, the separatist forces in Ilovaisk were reinforced by troops from the Russian Armed Forces, which encircled the Ukrainian forces in the city and defeated them. The commander of the Donbas Battalion, Semen Semenchenko, later accused the Ukrainian military and government of deliberately abandoning them for political reasons, citing the withdrawing of Azov and Shakhtarsk battalions as trying to start infighting between the volunteer battalions. Soldiers in truck reinforced with steel plates

Soldiers in truck reinforced with steel plates

In the battle of Novoazovsk from 25 to 28 August 2014 the Azov Battalion and Ukrainian forces did not fare much better, as they were pushed back by superior firepower of the tanks and armored vehicles of the separatists and Russians. On 11 August 2014 another detachment of the Azov Battalion, backed by Ukrainian paratroopers, captured Marinka from pro-Russian rebels and entered the suburbs of Donetsk, clashing with DPR fighters. With Novoazovsk captured, the separatists began preparing a second offensive against Mariupol. In early September 2014, the Azov Battalion was engaged in the Second Battle of Mariupol. As the separatist forces closed in on the city, the Azov Battalion were in the vanguard of the defense, providing

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

around the villages of Shyrokyne and Bezimenne, located a few kilometers east of Mariupol. At the same time, Azov started to train Mariupol citizens in self-defense and organize popular militias to defend the city. The separatists were able to push far into Mariupol, reaching the outer suburbs and coming within five kilometers of the city. But an overnight counter-offensive on 4 September launched by Azov and the Armed Forces pushed the DPR forces away from the city. Soldiers from the Azov Battalion move into position

Soldiers from the Azov Battalion move into position

Regarding the ceasefire agreed on 5 September, Biletsky stated: "If it was a tactical move there is nothing wrong with it ��if it's an attempt to reach an agreement concerning Ukrainian soil with separatists then obviously it's a betrayal." At this time, Azov had 500 members.

Reorganisation and incorporation into the National Guard of Ukraine, November 2014

In September 2014, the Azov Battalion underwent a reorganisation, and was upgraded to a regiment,.
This gives an exchange rate of 19.0000 hryvnia = $1. and on 11 November, the regiment was officially enrolled into the

. This was part of larger policy changes by the Ukrainian government of integrating the independent volunteer battalions under either the Ukrainian Ground Forces or the National Guard into the formal chain-of-command of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). The now-Azov Regiment was designated as " Military Unit 3057" and officially named the "Azov" Special Operations Detachment". Following its official enrollment in the National Guard, Azov received official funding from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and other sources (believed to be Ukrainian oligarchs). Around this time Azov started receiving increased supplies of heavy arms. Biletsky left the regiment in October 2014 and his influence dissipated afterwards. On 14 October 2014, Azov servicemen took part in a march to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

(UPA) in Kyiv organized by the

Right Sector Right Sector () is a loosely defined coalition of right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organizations. It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several ultranationalist organizations at the Euroma ...

and on 31 October 2014, deputy commander of the Azov Battalion Vadym Troyan was appointed head of

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast (, ), also called Kyivshchyna (, ), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special sta ...

police (this police force has no jurisdiction over the city of Kyiv).

Battle of Shyrokyne, January 2015

Pavlopol-Shirokino offensive operation 2

On 24 January 2015, Mariupol came under an indiscriminate rocket bombing by separatists, which left 31 dead and 108 injured. On 28 January, two Azov members were killed in a shelling of a checkpoint in the eastern part of Mariupol. Both attacks were conducted from an area near the village of Shyrokyne, 11 km east of Mariupol, where there was significant movement of separatist troops in the region, stoking fears of a third offensive against Mariupol. In February 2015, the Azov Regiment responded by spearheading a surprise offensive against the separatists in Shyrokyne. The objective was to create a buffer zone to prevent more bombings of Mariupol and push the separatists forces back into Novoazovsk. The attack by the Azov Regiment was reinforced by the Ukrainian Army, and Air Assault Forces, as well the Donbas Battalion of the National Guard, the independent volunteer battalions Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, and the Chechen Muslim Sheikh Mansur Battalion. In February 2015, after breaking through DPR lines, the Azov Regiment managed to quickly capture the towns of Shyrokyne, Pavlopil, and Kominternove, and began to advance toward Novoazovsk. The Ukrainian forces were stopped in the town of Sakhanka, where the separatists held the line by using heavy artillery and armored vehicles. By 12 February 2015 the separatists launched an all-out counter-offensive which resulted in heavy losses for Azov. Azov and the rest of the Ukrainian forces retreated from Sakhanka into Shyrokyne. On 12 February 2015, the Minsk II ceasefire was signed by both parties of the conflict, and the territory around Shyrokyne was declared to be part of a proposed demilitarized buffer zone. However, the DPR rebels did not consider combat in the village itself as part of the ceasefire, while Biletsky saw the ceasefire as "appeasing the aggressor". The following weeks saw fighting continuing between Azov and the separatists, worrying some analysts that it could jeopardize the Minsk II agreement. The situation in Shyrokyne became a stalemate: both sides reinforced their positions and built trenches. In the following weeks, Azov and the DPR forces exchanged fire and artillery bombings with a back-and-forth on the control of the front lines and villages. The village of Shyrokyne was almost completely destroyed as a result. On 1 July 2015, the separatists withdrew from Shyrokyne. Separatist leader

Denis Pushilin Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin (born 9 May 1981) is a Russian politician who has served as the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) since 2018. He has held the position in an acting capacity ever since the Russian annexation of the DPR in ...

declared they were pulling back as an "act of good will" to conform to the Minsk II agreements. However, Biletsky claimed the action was a result of the separatists suffering heavy casualties and not being able to sustain their operation. On 29 July 2015 the Azov Regiment and the Donbas Battalion fighters in Shyrokyne were rotated out of the front and replaced with a unit of the Ukrainian Marines. The decision to pull them out from the village was met with protests from residents of nearby Mariupol, who feared that the withdrawal would lead to Russian separatists quickly retaking the village and shelling the city again. Azov in Mariupol 8

In August 2015, the Ukrainian government pulled all volunteer battalions, including Azov, off the front lines around Mariupol, replacing them with regular military units. The primary base of the regiment became a seaside villa in Urzuf, a village in

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

. On 1 October 2015, the Azov Civil Corps joined the Blockade of Crimea. The action was started by the

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People () is the single highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars in period between sessions of the Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People. The Mejlis is a member institution of the Platform of E ...

on 20 September as a massive

traffic obstruction Traffic obstruction is a common tactic used during public protests and political demonstrations. Legality Most jurisdictions consider the obstruction of traffic an illegal activity and have developed rules to prosecute those who ''block, obstru ...

of transport traffic going into

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

to protest the Russian annexation of Crimea. The Azov Regiment and the Right Sector's Ukrainian Volunteer Corps paramilitaries helped provide security for the activists.

2016–2019

On 27 April 2016, 300 troops and light armored vehicles from the regiment were assigned to

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

to safeguard public order after Oblast Governor

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil "Misha" Saakashvili (born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. He is the founder and former chair ...

wrote in social media about a rash of pro-Russian " titushki" attacks on civilians. In 2017, the size of the regiment was estimated at more than 2,500 members. In 2019 the Azov Regiment spent eight months on the front line at the Svitlodarsk arc, following more than three years of being withdrawn from the front. In June 2019, to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the Ukrainian victory in the battle of Mariupol, there was a

military parade A military parade is a formation of military personnels whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as Drill team, drilling or marching. Large military parades are today held on major holidays and military events around the ...

composed by members of the Azov Regiment, the National Guard of Ukraine, the

National Police of Ukraine The National Police of Ukraine (, ; /NPU ), often simply referred to as the (), is the national, and only, police service of Ukraine. It was formed on 3 July 2015, as part of the post-Euromaidan reforms launched by Ukrainian president Petro Por ...

, and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Azov in Mariupol 6

Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Azov Regiment regained attention during the

in 2022. Before the conflict, Azov was the subject of a propaganda war: Russia used the regiment's official incorporation into the National Guard of Ukraine as one of the proofs for its portrait of the Ukrainian government and military as under Nazi control, with "

denazification Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...

" as a key ''

casus belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...

''. The regiment, on the other hand, was noted for its ability to self-promote, producing high quality videos of its drone strikes and other military activities; ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' called it a "well-oiled publicity machine". Others have noted how their participation in the war and defense of Mariupol have increased national and international notoriety and popularity of the unit. The regiment's destruction has been among Moscow's war objectives. In March,

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

described the Azov Regiment as "at the heart of the propaganda war" between Russia and Ukraine. France 24 reported that Azov posted victory claims on

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

that are "often accompanied by videos of burning Russian tanks" and called the Russians "the real fascists". Vyacheslav Likhachev, an analyst at the ZMINA Center for Human Rights in Kyiv, stated that during the war, Azov operates in the same way as other regiments, "but with better PR". In 2022 it was reported that Biletsky occasionally used Azov fighters to put pressure on President Zelenskyy and prevent him from reaching compromises with Russia. Azov veterans marched into Kiev reaching president's office. In January 2023, Meta decided that Azov should not be regarded as a "dangerous organization", meaning that

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, and

WhatsApp WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make vo ...

users may publish content about the Azov Regiment and its members without censorship. On 10 June 2024, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

announced the lifting of a ban which previously prevented the Azov Brigade from using weapons supplied by the US, writing in a statement that "Ukraine's 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting" and that the department found no evidence of human rights violations committed by the unit. This policy shift allows the Azov Brigade to use the same US military equipment as any other unit in the Ukrainian National Guard. In August 2024, the brigade was reportedly diverted from Lyman to assist in the ongoing fighting around Niu-York. In September 2024, the Azov brigade was reported to be part of Ukrainian reinforcements to Pokrovsk conducting small-scale counterattacks slowing or slightly pushing Russian gains back. Azov in Mariupol 5

Defense of Mariupol

Most of the Azov Regiment was stationed in Mariupol at the beginning of the invasion. In March 2022,

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

reported that the regiment was the primary unit defending

in the siege of Mariupol. As the battle raged, Azov became notable for its fierce defense of the city. For example,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

called it "a seasoned volunteer force that is widely considered one of the country's most capable units". On 19 March 2022, president

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

awarded the title of

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

to Azov's commander in Mariupol, Lieutenant Colonel Denys Prokopenko. On 9 March Russia carried out an airstrike on a maternity hospital, killing multiple civilians, and justified the bombing by the alleged presence of Azov troops in the building; similarly, on 16 March, the Mariupol theatre, which was holding civilians, was bombed, Russia accused Azov of having perpetrated it, trying to frame Russia for it. As civilians fled the city, Russian checkpoints stopped men and stripped them, looking for tattoos identifying them as Azov. Refugees in " filtration centers" were interrogated if they had any affiliation with Azov or knew someone in the regiment. On 22 March, Azov's military headquarters in the northern Kalmiuskyi District were captured by Russian and DPR soldiers, although it was already abandoned. By early April, the Azov Regiment, together with other local Ukrainian forces, started to retreat into the Azovstal iron and steel works, a massive Soviet-era steel mill built to resist military attacks and bombing. The unit became prominently associated with Azovstal; its founder Biletskiy called the industrial complex "the fortress of the Azov". On 11 April 2022, the regiment accused Russian forces of using "a poisonous substance of unknown origin" in Mariupol. The allegations, however, have not been confirmed by independent fact-checkers and organizations. Later in April, remaining pockets of Ukrainian resistance inside the city, consisting of the 36th Marine Brigade, other National Guard units, and the sea port detachments of the National Police and Border Guards, conducted operations to break through into Azovstal, while members of Azov conducted support and rescue operations to assist them. By 21 April, most Ukrainian forces in Mariupol were based in Azovstal. On 21 April,

officially stated that Mariupol was "liberated" and placed an order for his forces not to storm the complex, but instead blockade it. Nonetheless, the following days saw bombing and shelling of Azovstal. There were also civilians sheltering in the complex. On 3 May, the Russian forces in Mariupol restarted their attacks on Azovstal. The following day it was reported that the Russians had broken into the plant. In early May 2022 protests took place in Kyiv, organised by the families of Azov troops, Ukrainian marines and other soldiers. Kateryna Prokopenko, the wife of Denys Prokopenko, took a major role in these demonstrations, which were broken up by police. These protests accused the Ukrainian government and the international community of failing to do enough to assist wounded soldiers currently in the Azovstal steelworks. In a statement made to the press on 8 May 2022 from the steelworks, leading figures within the regiment stated that they would not surrender. They criticized the Ukrainian government for negotiating with Russia, as well as countries who refused to supply Azov with weapons in previous years. In this news conference, Sviatoslav Palamar, second in command of the Azov Regiment, accused Ukrainian politicians of cynicism for failing to visit Azovstal. He stated that the regiment could not be 100% sure all civilians had been evacuated due to lack of equipment and the fact they had not been assisted by specialist organizations. Palamar said that during the evacuation of civilians, three Azov soldiers had been killed and one wounded, and said that criticisms made towards the troops about the speed of the evacuation were 'extremely painful'. An Azovstal factory worker who had stayed in a bunker under the factory for two months before her evacuation told Deutsche Welle that, contrary to Russian media reports, they were not forced by soldiers in Azovstal to stay against their will, however, it became increasingly unsafe to leave due to constant bombardment. Azov Uniforms

On 10 May 2022, the Azov Regiment posted images on its Telegram page of what it said were its wounded soldiers in the bunkers of Azovstal. These images showed severe shrapnel injuries and in some cases amputated limbs which the soldiers were unable to treat properly. They called for an immediate evacuation where these soldiers could be provided with medical assistance. In an interview with the ''

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

'', a soldier of the Azov Regiment repeated this call, alleging that he had been tortured and witnessed killings by Russian separatists when he had been captured in the previous phase of the war. On 17 May 2022, negotiations, which included mediators from the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

(ICRC), managed to end the siege of Azovstal and establish a

humanitarian corridor A humanitarian corridor is a type of temporary demilitarized zone intended to allow the safe transit of humanitarian aid in, and/or refugees out of a crisis region. Such a corridor can also be associated with a no-fly zone or no-drive zone. Va ...

. On 16 May, the Ukrainian General Staff announced that the Mariupol garrison, including remnants of the Azov Regiment stationed in Mariupol, had "fulfilled its combat mission" and that evacuations from the Azovstal steel factory had begun. Following orders from the high command, over the next few days Azov members in Azovstal, including Prokopenko, surrendered to Russian forces among ~2.5k Ukrainian soldiers from the plant, and were taken to Russian-controlled territory of the Donetsk People's Republic. The ICRC registered the surrendered troops as

at the request of both sides, collecting information to contact their families. Ukrainian and Russian sources make contradicting statements on the future of surrendered combatants, from pre-arranged exchange to Russian POWs with support of international humanitarian organizations, to criminal prosecution in Russia on war crime and terrorism charges. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, according to Azov chief of staff on 18 May, Ukraine had proposed a prisoner swap of the most severely wounded prisoners, but Russia had countered "everyone or no one". Russian press secretary

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (, ; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat serving as the Kremlin Press Secretary, spokesman for President of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2012.Anatoly Wasserman Anatoly Aleksandrovich Wasserman (, ; born 9 December 1952) is a politician, journalist and political commentator, political pundit who has won numerous television intellectual quiz shows. Since September 2021 he is a member of the State Duma of ...

and Vyacheslav Volodin, called on the government to deny prisoner exchanges for members of the Azov Regiment, and try them in Russia as "nazi war criminals" instead. Leonid Slutsky suggested to lift the moratorium on death sentences in Russia to allow execution of surrendered Azov fighters. According to international human rights law professor Christina Binder at the

Bundeswehr University Munich image:Eingangsbereich der Universität der Bundeswehr München.jpg, Entrance to the university University of the Bundeswehr Munich (, UniBw München) is one of two research universities in Germany at federal level that both were founded in 1973 a ...

, despite Russia leaving the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

in March 2022, its provisions are effective for an additional 6 months. This leaves open the potential for a case at

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

in the case of torture and execution of fighters from the Azov Regiment until September 2022. Amnesty International USA issued a statement saying that "Ukraine's soldiers deployed in Mariupol area have been dehumanized by Russian media and portrayed in Putin's propaganda as 'neo-Nazis' throughout Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. This characterization raises serious concerns over their fate as prisoners of war", while calling for Russia to fully respect the Geneva conventions. On 24 May 2022, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported that Denys Prokopenko was able to briefly call his wife from captivity, and according to him surrendered Azov fighters are being held in "satisfactory" conditions, with injured combatants held in a prison in Olenivka, and a small number of severely injured fighters held in a hospital of Novoazovsk. Presumably, none of the surrendered fighters had been taken to Russia so far. Also on 30 May 2022, a group of family members announced the creation of a "Council of Wives and Mothers" to help ensure the surrendered soldiers are treated according to the Geneva Conventions. They noted that most of the relatives have no idea what is going on with the captured fighters, and there is no evidence of activity by the Red Cross. On 5 June 2022, Kateryna Prokopenko told ''

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

'' that as far as she understands, international humanitarian groups such as the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

were only with the surrendered soldiers during the beginning of their captivity, but that it was not the case anymore. She suggested that the Russian side is restricting access to the soldiers by the Red Cross. In mid-June, the lack of monitoring continued, even though it was a provision of the surrender agreement. The Red Cross has been silent, but their fate has been brought up during a phone call by

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

, and Vladimir Putin, when the western leaders called for a prisoner swap. On 7 June 2022,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group separately announced that Ukrainian refugees, as well as civilians forcibly deported to Russia, were being pressured and intimidated to implicate Ukrainian military personnel in war crimes, including implicating Azov in the Mariupol theatre airstrike. Bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters have been transferred to Kyiv. These are being processed by Azov's "guardianship" unit. After a Donetsk court conducted a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

of three foreign members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and sentenced them to death, there was worry that the prisoners of war from Azovstal would face similar show trials, with people associated with Azov especially vulnerable due to their depiction in Russian propaganda. Some civil society members also claim that Russia wants to destabilize Ukraine by pitting the interests of captives and the victims of Russian war crimes against each other. Zelenskyy declared in early June that the defenders of Mariupol had become "public prisoners", and it was not in Russian interests to use violence against them. However, other Ukrainian sources claimed the DPR was preparing a trial against members of Azov in order to close the loop of Russia's "denazification" of Ukraine narrative. According to Yulia Fedosyuk, wife of Azov soldier Arseniy Fedosyuk, Russia will most likely try and convict the Azovstal soldiers terrorism and war crimes against civilians, to try and shift blame for crimes committed by Russia. She also said the Azov officers, including Prokopenko and Palamar had been moved to the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, the site of an FSB detention center, while others were in Olenivka. On 30 June, it was announced that 95 Azovstal prisoners would be exchanged, along with 43 from the Azov Regiment. It was revealed that about 1,000 Azov soldiers were still prisoners of war. On 18 June 2022, Mykyta Nadtochiy was appointed as new commander of the Azov Regiment. According to ''

Moskovskij Komsomolets ''Moskovskij Komsomolets'' (''MK''; ) is a Moscow-based daily newspaper with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its topical reporting on Russian politics and society. History The news ...

'', Nadtochiy was appointed by Prokopenko as his successor during the siege of Mariupol and was later evacuated from the city by helicopter after being

wounded in action Wounded in action (WIA) describes combatants who have been wounded while fighting in a combat zone during wartime, but have not been killed. Typically, it implies that they are temporarily or permanently incapable of bearing arms or continuing ...

. On 29 July 2022, at least 50 of the captured fighters died in the Olenivka prison explosion, claimed by the Russian side to be a missile strike by Ukrainian forces on the Olenivka prison in

where they were kept, and claimed by the Ukrainian side to be a murder of prisoners by Russia, disguised as a false flag operation. Ukraine asked the UN and

, which vouched for the life and health of surrendered soldiers, for an immediate reaction to the incident. On 22 September 2022, as part of a

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoner of war, prisoners of war, spy, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, cadaver, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conven ...

, Ukraine handed Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch, former

People's Deputy of Ukraine A people's deputy of Ukraine (, ) is a member of parliament and legislator elected by Direct election, popular vote to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine. They are often referred to simply as "deputies". Prior to 1991, the Verkhovna R ...

and personal friend of Vladimir Putin over to Russia, along with another 55 Russian prisoners of war, in exchange for over 215 Ukrainian prisoners of war, including 188 members of the Azov Regiment. Prisoners exchanged included Azov commander Denys Prokopenko and his deputy Sviatoslav Palamar, along with three other leaders. It was agreed that the five leaders of the Azov Regiment that were released as part of the prisoner exchange would remain in Turkey until the end of the war. The swap caused controversy in Russia among hardliners and pro-war supporters, as in the past few months the Russian government had affirmed that the Azov prisoners were going to be trialled over crimes and would not be handed over in any prisoner exchanges, and had used Azov extensively in propaganda. On 8 June 2023, a number of Azov's top commanders, including Prokopenko, returned from internment in Turkey back to Ukraine in a move that was repudiated by Russia. In April 2025, the brigade became part of the 1st Azov Corps, a newly created formation led by the brigade's former commander Denys Prokopenko.

Other 'Azov' units

While the bulk of the Azov Regiment was based in Mariupol, with the full-scale invasion new Azov units began to be organized outside of the city, in particular in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Veterans of the Azov Regiment formed the "backbone" of these units. These units were initially part of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine (TDF). The Azov TDF units proved themselves to be particularly effective in combat, and thus they were turned into regiments and reassigned as part of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine (SSO), where they received special training and equipment. These units are known as the "Azov SSO", with units in Kyiv, Kharkiv and a new one in

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

. In May 2022, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported that a new Azov unit had been created in Kharkiv, bearing a new insignia of a stylized '' Tryzub'' formed by three golden swords. In January 2023, the Azov SSO units were merged and reformed into the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade under the Ukrainian Ground Forces. It is a

mechanised infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps). As defined by the United States Army, me ...

unit with the aim of providing a highly mobile, well-armed and well-trained unit that can effectively engage in both defensive and offensive operations. In January, the unit was deployed to the battle of Bakhmut. In

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

, the 98th Territorial Defence Battalion 'Azov-Dnipro' of the Territorial Defense Forces was organized, led by First Deputy Head of National Corps and Azov veteran Rodion Kudryashov. Other Azov TDF units include the 225th and 226th Reconnaissance battalions from Kharkiv, the Azov Tank Company—part of the 127th Defense Brigade of the Kharkiv TDF—Azov-Prykarpattia formed in

Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk (, ), formerly Stanyslaviv, Stanislav and Stanisławów, is a city in western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as well as Ivano-Frankivsk Raion within the oblast. Ivano-Frankivsk also host ...

and Azov-Poltava based in

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

. In addition, Azov veterans and National Corps members and formed the

Kraken Regiment The Kraken Regiment () is a Ukrainian military volunteer unit, part of the spetsnaz units of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine), Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) formed in 2022 as a response to the Russian invasion ...

, a volunteer unit active in Kharkiv which is not part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but of the Main Directorate of Intelligence. While in Volyn, Azov veterans formed the "separate special purpose unit 'Lubart'" under the TDF. A photoshoot of the unit included the flag of the Centuria Group, a far-right organization connected to Azov.

Structure

Battalion (May–September 2014)

* 1st Hundred "Century" ** Patch of the Borodan Division

"Borodan Division" platoon * Patch of the 2nd Company of the Azov Regiment

2nd "Iron" Hundred * Patch of the 3rd Company of the Azov Regiment

3rd hundred * Azov 2company3

4th "Spartan" Hundred * Mors Venit Velociter

separate reconnaissance and sabotage platoonhttps://periodicals.karazin.ua/uahistory/article/download/18140/16549/ ** Azov-SINOVI-SMRTI

* separate shock-assault platoon

Regiment (September 2014–2022)

* 1st Battalion ** 1st Hundred ** 2nd hundred ** Patch of the 3rd Company of the Azov Regiment

3rd hundred ** mortar battery * 2nd Battalion ** 1st Hundred ** Patch of the 2nd Company of the Azov Regiment

2nd hundred ** Azov 2company3

3rd hundred ** mortar battery * * Tank company "Kholodny Yar" * AZOV Artillery

Artillery division * anti-aircraft missile artillery division * Pekelnasotnya

engineer-sapper company * commandant's company * AzovKhorunzh

Horn service

Brigade (from February 2023)

* Azov Brigade ** Azov Brigade Headquarters

Brigade’s Headquarters ** 1st Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

1st Special Forces Battalion *** Spear Group *** Young Team *** 1st Special Purpose Company **** 1st Platoon **** 2nd Platoon **** 3rd Platoon **** Mortar Platoon *** 2nd Special Purpose Company **** 1st Platoon "Scuto Company" ***** 2nd Platoon ***** 3rd Platoon **** Mortar Platoon *** 3rd Special Purpose Company **** 1st Platoon **** 2nd Platoon **** 3rd Platoon **** Mortar Platoon *** Reconnaissance Platoon *** Combat Engineering Platoon *** Mortar Battery *** Medical Service ** 2nd Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

2nd Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

2nd Special Forces Battalion *** Patch of the 1st Co

1st Special Purpose Company *** 2nd Special Purpose Company *** 3rd Special Purpose Company *** Unmanned Systems Company *** Reconnaissance Platoon *** Combat Engineering Platoon *** Mortar Battery *** Medical Service ** 3rd Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

3rd Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

3rd Special Forces Battalion (disbanded in May 2024) ** 5th Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

6th Azov Special Purpose Battalion Insignia - First Variant

6th Special Forces Battalion ***1st Special Purpose Company ***2nd Special Purpose Company ***3rd Special Purpose Battalion ***Unmanned Systems Company ***Reconnaissance Platoon ***Combat Engineering Platoon ***Mortar Battery ***Medical Service ** 3rd International Battalion *** 1st International Company *** 2nd International Company *** 3rd International Company *** Unmanned Systems Company *** Reconnaissance Platoon *** Sapper Unit "Foxtrot" *** Mortar Battery *** Medical Service ** special purpose reconnaissance unit ** Special purpose reconnaissance technical equipment company ** tank battalion *** 1st Tank Company *** 2nd Tank Company *** 3rd Tank Company *** Reconnaissance Platoon *** Anti-Aircraft Platoon *** Engineer Platoon *** Support Company *** Medical Station ** Artillery Group Azov - First Variant

Brigade Artillery group *** Kontakt-12 *** 1st Artillery Battalion *** 2nd Artillery Battalion *** Rocket Artillery Battalion *** Anti-Tank Battalion ** Azov Drone Battalion v2

battalion of strike unmanned systems *** FPV Drone Strike Company *** UAV Reconnaissance Company *** Electronic Warfare and Anti-Drone Company *** Technical & Maintenance Company ** AZOV UAV Strike Company

Engineer-sapper company ** AzovPPO

Anti-aircraft missile and artillery division *** Anti-Aircraft Missile Battery *** Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battery *** Radar and Detection Platoon *** Maintenance and Support Platoon *** Logistics and Supply Company *** Reconnaissance and Surveillance Platoon ** Azov crbn

RCBZ platoon ** Azovmedics2023

Medical company *** Medical Platoon *** Evacuation Platoon *** Support Platoon ** AzovKhorunzh2024

Khorunzha Service ** Electronic Warfare Company *** Signal Intelligence Platoon *** Electronic Attack Platoon *** Electronic Support Platoon *** Counter-UAV Platoon ** Reconnaissance Detachment *** Neptune Reconnaissance Group *** Pirates Reconnaissance Group *** Thunderstorm Reconnaissance Group ** Recruitment Service ** Logo of Azov Support Forces

Support Forces Battalion *** Engineering and Sapper Company *** Engineering and Positioning Company *** Flamethrower Platoon ** Sniper Company *** Gladius Ultor *** Mortems Squad ** Automobile Battalion ** Communications Node ** Personnel Training Battalion ** Firefighting Platoon ** Psychological Service

Leadership and organisation

Andriy Biletsky leads patrol near Mariupol

The brigade's first commander and founder was Andriy Biletsky. Biletsky stayed out of the public spotlight working on expanding Azov to battalion size. In summer 2014, he took command of the unit. In August 2014, he was awarded the military decoration " Order for Courage" by Ukrainian president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

and promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Interior Ministry's police forces. After Biletsky was elected into the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

in the

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

he left the regiment, and terminated his contract with the National Guard in 2016 (Ukrainian elected officials cannot be in the military, nor the police).The former leader of "Azov" Beletsky declared only salary and $ 5,000
,

(30 October 2016) A 16 July 2014 report placed the Azov Battalion's strength at 300. An earlier report stated that on 23 June almost 600 volunteers, including women, took oaths to join the Donbas and Azov Battalions. The unit included 900 volunteers .

Commanders

Biletsky led Azov from its inception as a volunteer battalion in May to October 2014, when he ran for office in the 2014 parliamentary elections. Previous Azov commanders included Ihor Mykhailenko and Maksym Zhorin. From July 2017 to May 2022, the unit's commander was Lieutenant Colonel Denys Prokopenko, who became the youngest commander in the history of the armed forces of Ukraine. In May 2022, the unit's second in command was Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, who was captured by Russian forces and later released in a prisoner swap. On 18 June 2022, Mykyta Nadtochiy was appointed as new commander of the Azov Regiment.

Status

Azov was initially formed as a volunteer militia in May 2014. In 2015, the Ukrainian government decided to turn all volunteer battalions — both the Territorial Defence Battalions associated with the armed forces, and the Special Tasks Patrol Police of the interior ministry — into regular units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the National Guard, respectively. Azov is one of the latter. The Ukrainian government also opted to deploy only volunteer units to the Donbas front, pledging that conscripts would not be sent into combat. In January 2015, Azov was officially enlarged into a regiment and its structures took a definite shape. A mobilization center and a training facility were established in Kyiv, in the former industrial complex "ATEK" for selection and examination. The personnel, composed of volunteers from all over Ukraine, had to pass through a screening and vetting process, quite similar to the army's mobilization procedures. Recruits were then assigned to the combat units of the regiment, or to support and supply units, where they undertake intensive combat drills.

Reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

and

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fu ...

(EOD) units were considered the elite of Azov and were manned by the most experienced personnel (typically, former Ukrainian Army special forces or similar). In February 2023, acting Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko announced that Azov was to be expanded from its regimental status as one of eight assault

s of the new

. The Offensive Guard is to be an all-volunteer formation of eight assault infantry brigades, six of the National Guard, one of the Border Guard, and one under the National Police, anticipated to be fully active by April 2023.

Foreign fighters

According to ''

'' in August 2014, the Azov Battalion's extremist politics and professional English social media pages had attracted foreign fighters, including people from

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, Czechia, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

.Swedish neo-Nazis join fight in Ukraine
, ''The Local Sweden'', 30 July 2014. While the February 2015 Minsk II Ceasefire Agreement speaks of the withdrawal of foreign fighters, the agreement was never fully implemented. Though only about 50 Russian nationals were members of the Azov regiment in April 2015, the regiment still included foreign fighters in August 2015, for example the ex-British army serviceman Chris Garrett and a 33-year-old former soldier of the Greek army and

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

known by the ''nom-de-guerre'' of "The Greek". Investigative journalist Michael Colborne wrote that by 2015 the regiment had largely lost interest in recruitment of foreigners, "let alone in forming international friendships". However, he noted that the same could not be said for the broader Azov movement, especially the National Corps political party. In late 2016, Brazilian investigators uncovered an alleged plot to recruit Brazilian far-right activists for the Azov-aligned Misanthropic Division. American white nationalists have unsuccessfully tried to join Azov. In 2016, Andrew Oneschuk, who later joined the neo-Nazi terrorist group

Atomwaffen Division The Atomwaffen Division (''Atomwaffen'' meaning "atomic weapons" in GermanModern standard German prefers ''Kernwaffen'' () for the concept.), also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, was an international far-right extremist and ...

, joined an Azov movement podcast in 2016. Azov has cultivated ties with the Atomwaffen Division. According to the Counter Extremism Project, the Azov Regiment made clear in 2019 that it was no longer accepting foreigners, since foreigners could only serve in the Ukrainian Army as contract service members. However, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine it once again actively recruited foreign volunteers. In 2019, support for the Azov Movement and associated organizations was temporarily forbidden under Facebook's Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy. In 2021, ''Time'' reported on the use of Facebook by the Azov Movement to recruit far-right individuals from other countries, reporting instances from 2018. During the full-scale invasion the "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations" policy was relaxed. In 2019, the FBI arrested a 24-year-old American soldier for a bomb plot, who had wanted to travel to Ukraine to join the regiment. In 2020, Ukraine deported two American Atomwaffen members who wanted to join the regiment. A Ukrainian official told ''

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...

'' that for anyone to join the regiment, official channels had to be used. In June 2022, Kacper Rekawek wrote in

Combating Terrorism Center The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homeland ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

that "Ukrainian units with far-right histories are now deeply integrated into Ukraine's armed forces and eschew foreign recruitment, and one of those units, the Azov Regiment, was decimated during the siege of Mariupol. Very few foreign right-wing extremists have been recruited into Ukraine's International Legion. In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests most of the foreign fighters who have traveled this year to fight on the Ukrainian side are fighting to safeguard Ukraine's future as a Western democracy. All this means that while Western governments should keep a watchful eye on foreign fighter flows to Ukraine, they must also counter Russian disinformation efforts that massively inflate the presence of right-wing extremists on the Ukrainian side." Two former Russian Azov volunteers and other right-wing emigrants formed a separate unit as a response to the Russian invasion, known as the Russian Volunteer Corps. In November 2022, four members of the neo-Nazi subversive group "Order of Hagal" were arrested by the Italian police, and for one suspect who could not be found "investigative activity showed that he was in contact with the Azov battalion".

Azov movement

The Azov Battalion has created its own civilian political movement, collectively known as the "Azov movement", made up of an umbrella of organizations formed by former Azov veterans or groups linked to Azov, and with roots in the ultranationalist paramilitary Patriot of Ukraine group led by Azov founder Andriy Biletsky and the associated

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

Social-National Assembly. According to

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

in 2018, the Azov movement "considers close allies" several

organisations around the world, like

CasaPound CasaPound Italia (abbr. CPI; "House of zraPound") is an Italian neo-fascist movement. It was formerly a political party, born as a network of far-right social centres arising from the occupation of a state-owned building by squatters in th ...

, Golden Dawn, Szturmowcy,

National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...

and

Alternative For Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

. In 2015, according to Reuters, since Azov has been integrated into the National Guard and started to receive more supplies of heavy weapons, Biletsky has toned down his rhetoric. The Patriot of Ukraine websites were shut down or put under restricted access. According to a 2017 article in ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

'' magazine, after the Azov battalion was integrated into the National Guard in November 2014, "the government's first act was to root out two groups within Azov, foreign fighters and neo-Nazis, by vetting group members with background checks, observations during training, and a law requiring all fighters to accept Ukrainian citizenship. Fighters who did not pass this screening were offered the chance to join civilian volunteer corps to help the war effort; these corps assisted police, cleared snow (a crucial task in Ukraine), and even worked on a public radio." Ivan Gomza and Johann Zajaczkowski, in a 2019 paper, analysed the social media posts of 20 leading Azov movement members. They concluded that more of those posts reflected openness to the possibility that they would be to advance their views through official, institutional politics than those that expressed the contrary view. Some academic researchers agree with the view that there is increasingly great separation between the Azov Movement and the Azov Battalion. Kacper Rękawek, a research fellow with the Center for Research on Extremism at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

, told

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in March 2022 that, "People always assume it he Azov regiment and Azov movementis one Death Star. Year by year, the connections etween the regiment and the movementare looser." Other experts, however, disagree with these assessments, and point to specific cases where there have been interactions between the regiment and the broader movement. Oleksiy Kuzmenko of Bellingcat in a 2020 article, noted that soldiers from the regiment appeared together with leaders of the "National Corps" political party in a 2020 video ad for a rally, and that a 2017 YouTube video appeared to show the émigré Russian neo-Nazi Alexey Levkin giving a lecture to the regiment. Both entities have admitted to being part of the wider "Azov Movement" led by Biletsky, who worked directly with

(Minister of the Interior until July 2021) on matters relating to the regiment. Similarly, Michael Colborne wrote in a book on Azov published in January 2022 that it "would be a mistake to claim...that the Azov regiment is somehow not a part of the broader Azov movement" and points to repeated description of the regiment as the "military wing" of the Azov movement by Olena Semenyaka, the main international representative of the movement. Colborne also stated "the Azov movement tries to be a one-stop shop for all things far right. There's also a bevy of loosely affiliated but more extreme subgroups under its umbrella as well, including open neo-Nazis who praise and promote violence". In late 2021, prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said the movement had become less strong since 2019, as a result of infighting and the group needing to temper most of its international outreach activity due to high-profile attention. In 2022, there were continued reports of Biletsky interacting with the regiment, including his own claims that he was in daily contact with the current leader, Lt. Col Prokopenko, and other Azov soldiers during the siege of Mariupol. According to commentary by far right watcher Vyacheslav Likhachev, Biletsky's main goal is to exploit the Azov "trademark" in political life, and that although it is no secret that he was in touch with the regiment, his role is limited to an informal one. In 2023, when Biletsky was told during an interview that the Azov movement had split between "Azov" and the 3rd Assault Brigade, he replied: "There is no split." He went on to say that "the entire National Corps" had joined the Ukrainian army, highlighting a number of units including the Third Assault Brigade. CC AZOV logo

Azov Civil Corps

In the spring of 2015, veterans of the Azov Battalion created the core of a non-military non-governmental organization, the Azov Civil Corps (), for the purpose of "political and social struggle".

National Corps

In 2016, veterans of the regiment and members of the Azov Civil Corps founded the political party National Corps. The party advocates for a stronger government control over politics and economy, completely breaking ties with Russia and opposes Ukraine joining both the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The party's first leader was Andriy Biletsky.Andriy Biletsky: Avakov – man system, but the system I think is negative
,

(18 October 2016) According to an expert in a 2022 article by

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

, there is an " incompatibility resolution", which meant that active fighters could not become members of the National Corps. Nazkorpus

During the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, the elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolved parli ...

, the party formed a far-right

political coalition A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

alongside the Governmental Initiative of Yarosh, the Right Sector, and Svoboda parties. This coalition won a combined 2.15% of the nationwide electoral list vote but ultimately failed to win any seat in the

.CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections
,

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of IndependenceResults of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019
,

(21 July 2019)

Youth Corps

The Youth Corps (''Yunatskyy Korpus'') is a non-governmental organization engaged in the "patriotic upbringing" of children, and to take them once they grow up, to the National Militia of "Azov movement". Many members of the Youth Corps, beginning in 2015, organized

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

s where children and teenagers received combat training mixed with lectures on

Ukrainian nationalism Ukrainian nationalism (, ) is the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism emerge during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, Cossack upri ...

National Militia, 2017–2020

In 2017, a paramilitary group called the National Militia (), closely linked to the Azov movement, was formed. Its stated aim was to assist

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

, which is allowed under Ukrainian law, and it has conducted street patrols. In March 2019, its membership was reportedly "in the low thousands". On 29 January 2018, members of the National Militia stormed a municipal council meeting in

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

, and refused to let officials leave the building until they had approved the city's long-delayed budget. In 2018, the National Militia carried out a series of attacks on Romani settlements. In one attack on 7 June 2018, it used axes and sledgehammers to dismantle a Romani community in Holosiyivskiy Park in Kiyv, which was the fourth such instance of attacks by far-right groups against Romani settlements in Ukraine in the past month and a half. The National Militia ceased its activities in 2020 and has been inactive since then. According to Michael Colborne, the National Militia has been ''de facto'' replaced by the Centuria group.

Centuria

According to Oleksiy Kuzmenko, in a piece published for the

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

's Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian studies, the leadership of Centuria – a self-described "European traditionalist" group of military officers that aims to "defend" the "cultural and ethnic identity" of European peoples against "Brussels' politicos and bureaucrats" — has ties to the Azov movement. The organization "has promoted Azov to Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy (NAA) cadets, and credibly claimed that its members lectured in the Azov Regiment of the National Guard, the military wing of the Azov movement." ''Belltower.News'' similarly states that Centuria has "close connections with the Ukrainian neo-Nazi scene" while both Belltower and Colborne say that Centuria is the successor organization to the National Militia. ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'' carried an article in October 2021 that cited Kuzmenko's report on the group, which stated that it is "led by people with ties to" the Azov movement and that its members received training from Western countries while at the NAA.

Human rights violations

Donbass villagers rounded up for interrogation

In 2016,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and

received several credible allegations of abuse and torture by the regiment. Reports published by the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

(OHCHR) documented looting of civilian homes and unlawful detention and torture of civilians between September 2014 and February 2015 "by Ukrainian armed forces and the Azov regiment in and around Shyrokyne". Another OHCHR report documented an instance of rape and torture, writing: "A man with a mental disability was subject to cruel treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence by 8 to 10 members of the 'Azov' and the 'Donbas' battalions (both Ukrainian battalions) in August–September 2014. The victim's health subsequently deteriorated and he was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital." A report from January 2015 stated that a Donetsk People's Republic supporter was detained and tortured with electricity and

waterboarding Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method of waterboard ...

and struck repeatedly on his genitals, which resulted in his confessing to spying for pro-Russian militants.

Neo-Nazi origins and allegations of ongoing far-right associations

There is broad agreement among observers that at its formation in Spring 2014, the Azov Battalion was associated with Neo-Nazi and far-right ideas, including through the use of symbolism and the political associations and statements of its leaders and cadre. However, there is disagreement about the subsequent course of its evolution. Several researchers have stated in the years since that the Battalion's successors have depoliticized or deradicalized, identifying key landmarks in that process as its November 2014 incorporation into the national guard, a 2017 expulsion of some far right radicals, and Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Other commentators have disputed that characterisation, pointing to the continued leadership of figures who were important in 2014, and the ongoing use of symbolism similar to that used at the formation's founding. Observers have also commented on the brigade's relationship to the cluster of organisations known as the "Azov movement". Some commentators who have stressed the depoliticization of the brigade have also argued that the movement has retained substantial far right associations. Some observers argued as late as 2021-2022 that the brigade had continued to be integrated into a wider Azov movement. Others have referred to increasing distance between the two over the years, with some suggesting that since the full-scale invasion the links have been merely informal.

2014 formation

Azov was formed in 2014 as an alliance of Ukrainian patriots and "ideologically motivated"

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

activists. The latter determined the movement's symbols "and pushed for proselytizing their creed". ''

'' reported in 2014 that "many of zov'smembers have links with neo-Nazi groups, and even those who laughed off the idea that they are neo-Nazis did not give the most convincing denials", while one soldier identified himself as a "

national socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

Symbolism (2014-present)

Following the battalion's formation, observers raised concerns that its official symbols, as well as those worn privately by its soldiers, reflected far-right or extreme-right sympathies.

Official symbols

At its founding, and through Spring 2015, the unit's emblem foregrounded a runic device called the National Idea symbol. The symbol was originally designed for the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) and was later used by the Patriot of Ukraine organisation and the Social-National Assembly; all three of which were far-right groups whose members joined Azov in 2014. The device was also similar to a version of the

wolfsangel (, translation "wolf's hook") or () is a heraldic charge from mainly Germany and eastern France, which was inspired by medieval European wolf traps that consisted of a Z-shaped metal hook (called the ''Wolfsangel'', or the ''crampon'' in F ...

symbol used by a Nazi armored division. It is sometimes described simply as a wolfsangel, and sometimes as a "variation" or "mirror image" of that symbol, but not identical to it. According to the original designer of the National Idea symbol, the SNPU deliberately selected a version that used the Latin, rather than Cyrillic, initials of "national idea", knowing that it would be "provocative", due to its visual similarity to the Nazi swastika. He claimed not to have encountered the wolfsangel symbol at the time. Azov's founding emblem also featured, behind the National Idea device, a Black Sun, a symbol with Nazi origins. In Spring 2015, the battalion adopted a new emblem, without the Black Sun and featuring a version of the National Idea symbol adapted, but distinct, from the original version. The new motif was rotated 45 degrees clockwise from the 2014 version, and slightly altered in other ways. However, the 2014 version, with origins in Ukraine's far right, has continued to be used within the armed formation's broader symbolism. As of May 2025, it featured in the logos of the brigade's Artillery Group and Tank Battalion. Like the original National Idea symbol, its replacement is sometimes referred to as a wolfsangel, sometimes as a related but distinct device.

Interpretations

According to political scientist Kacper Rekawek, an intention behind the use of far-right symbols during the war in Donbas especially in 2014 was to "intimidate, annoy, and provoke the Russians". Representatives of the unit have claimed that the runic device, rather than connected to Nazism, represents the Ukrainian words for "united nation" or "national idea" (, Ideya Natsii). Andreas Umland, a scholar from the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies, told

in 2022 that though it had far-right connotations, the wolfsangel was not considered a fascist symbol by the population in Ukraine.

Freedom House Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...

's Reporting Radicalism initiative hold that the wolfsangel is a "marker of Nazi views" in Ukraine and is rarely used by accident, whereas the "national idea" runic device is often used, mistakenly, without reference to "ideological orientation." In 2022, political scientist Ivan Gomza wrote in '' Krytyka'' that even the Black Sun, while consciously chosen by its founders to reflect their far-right views, was likely seen by the majority of Ukrainians as "just an emblem of a successful fighting unit that protects Ukraine." Some critics of Azov continue to insist that its symbols are evidence that the brigade has a far-right or extreme right orientation.

Reports of far-right insignia displayed by individual soldiers

Azov soldiers have worn fascist or Nazi-associated symbols on their uniforms, including

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s and SS symbols. In 2014, the German

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

television network showed images of Azov fighters wearing helmets with

symbols and "the

SS runes SS runes () is a generic name given to a collection of pseudo-runes used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (''SS''), from the 1920s to 1945, for Nazi occultism-purposes; featured on flags, uniforms and other items as symbols of various aspects of Nazi ...

of Hitler's infamous black-uniformed elite corps". A Guardian correspondent also observed a swastika tattoo in 2014. In 2015, Marcin Ogdowski, a Polish war correspondent, gained access to one of Azov's bases located in the former holiday resort ''Majak''; Azov fighters showed him Nazi tattoos as well as Nazi emblems on their uniforms.

2014 incorporation into the National Guard

According to an analysis published by ''Foreign Affairs'', after the Azov armed formation was incorporated into the

, "the government's first act was to root out two groups within Azov, foreign fighters and neo-Nazis, by vetting group members with background checks, observations during training, and a law requiring all fighters to accept Ukrainian citizenship." The fighters who were rooted out were offered the chance to join civilian volunteer corps. In March 2015, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' interviewed a self-identified Nazi drill sergeant within the group, who said that "no more than half" of his comrades are Nazis and that when the war is over they will march on the capitol to overthrow the Ukrainian government. In the same article a spokesman for the Azov Regiment, disagreed, saying that "only 10% to 20%" of the unit's 900 members were Nazis, and that this was their personal ideology not the official ideology of the unit. Also in March 2015 a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

report noted that after the unit's inclusion in the National Guard, and its receipt of heavier equipment, Andriy Biletsky toned down his usual rhetoric, while most of the extremist leadership had left to focus on political careers in Azov movement formations such as the National Corps party or the Azov Civil Corps. In the years immediately following its integration into the National Guard, a number of experts and commentators stated that the radical right-wing ideology associated with the battalion had become more marginal, or that it did not make sense to describe it as a "neo-Nazi" regiment. Analyst Vyacheslav Likhachev later claimed that the "right-wing radicals" who had remained in the formation after 2014 were "cleaned out" by the new regimental leadership in 2017. In March 2018 a former

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

official commented that the real danger was not the original paramilitary group, but the civil movement Azov had spawned. '' Bellingcat'', an investigative journalist group, has traced ties between the Azov movement and American white supremacist groups. Michael Colborne of ''Bellingcat'', writing in ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' in 2019, called the Azov movement "a dangerous neo-Nazi-friendly extremist movement" with "global ambitions", citing similarities between the group's ideology and symbolism and that of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter, along with efforts by the group to recruit American right-wing extremists. In a 2020

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

article, Bellingcat's Oleskiy Kuzmenko wrote that the far right in general significantly damaged Ukraine's international reputation creating a vulnerability to hostile narratives that exaggerate its role. In 2019,

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, who had helped found the battalion and overseen its incorporation within the National Guard, claimed that "The shameful information campaign about the alleged spread of Nazi ideology (among Azov members) is a deliberate attempt to discredit the 'Azov' unit and the National Guard of Ukraine." In February 2020, the

published an article by Anton Shekhovtsov, a scholar of right-wing extremism in Europe and expert on Russia's connections to Europe's far-right. Shekhovtsov argued that Azov should not be designated a foreign terrorist organization, for reasons including that it was a regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard, and therefore followed orders given by the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

, and that there was insufficient evidence to support claims of links to Brenton Tarrant, the Rise Above Movement, and American right-wing terrorists. In a March 2020 article on the same website, however, Oleksiy Kuzmenko of '' Bellingcat'' argued that "the Regiment has failed in its alleged attempts to 'depoliticize.'"

researcher Andreas Umland noted in 2020 "the rising social demand for militant patriotism" due to the Russian aggression of 2014 and that "the emergence of initially irregular or semi-regular volunteer battalions, including those set up by ultra-nationalist activists, would not have occurred without the increasingly destructive Russian interference in Ukrainian internal affairs throughout 2014." Also in 2020, academic Huseyn Aliyev stated that the regiment had matured ideologically, and "toned down" its radical right wing ideas. In 2021, according to Kuzmenko, the Azov regiment was “actively involved in the training of the movement’s youth leaders”. In a book published in January 2022, just weeks before the full-scale invasion, Colborne argued that the Azov regiment continued to be "part of the broader Azov movement".

Since the 2022 full-scale invasion

In the months following the start of the full-scale

, there was increased journalistic and analytical attention on allegations of Azov's connections to the far right. Several analysts stated that such connections were much reduced since the group's founding. They pointed to the influx of new fighters into the Brigade, driven by a primary orientation to Azov's reputation as a high quality fighting unit, rather than political ideology. Critics of that view pointed to the ongoing prominence of leaders from 2014 who had a record of far right statements and associations, and to Azov's logo. In late February 2022, the Ukrainian National Guard released a video appearing to show an Azov fighter greasing bullets in pig fat to be used against the Kadyrovites, the forces of

Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976) is a Russian politician and current head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the ...

(since

Chechens The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kistin, Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. ...

are often

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and pork consumption is forbidden by Islamic law). This followed the announcement from Kadyrov of their deployment in Ukraine and displays of their

combat readiness Combat readiness is a condition of the armed forces and their constituent units and formations, warships, aircraft, weapon systems or other military technology and equipment to perform during combat military operations, or functions consistent ...

. Anton Shekhovtsov, an expert on Russia's connections to Europe's far-right, told the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' in March 2022 that though it was originally formed by leadership of a neo-nazi group, "It is certain that Azov he battalionhas depoliticised itself. Its history linked to the far-right movement is pretty irrelevant today." In a similar vein, Andreas Umland said in March 2022, that "In 2014 this battalion had indeed a far-right background, these were far-right racists that founded the battalion" but it had since become "de-ideologised" and a regular fighting unit. Its recruits now join not because of ideology but because "it has the reputation of being a particularly tough fighting unit," Umland said. Soldiers in front of building with swastika

Soldiers in front of building with swastika

In March 2022, in an open letter to Russia published through Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov, the Azov Regiment strongly denounced allegations of its neo-Nazi orientation, defining Nazism as a "tireless need to exterminate those who dared to be free" and noting that the regiment incorporated people of many ethnicities and religions, including

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

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Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

and

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

. According to the letter, Nazism, as well

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

, were "despised" by the regiment, since Ukraine greatly suffered from both. In April 2022, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' painted a picture of a group aware of its origins, and still with a far-right adherent commander and some extremist members, but much changed from its origins. Michael Colborne told the paper that he "wouldn't call he Azov Movementexplicitly a neo-Nazi movement" although there are "clearly neo-Nazis within its ranks". Also in April 2022 Shekhovtsov, writing in '' Euromaidan Press'' reiterated his view that the Azov Regiment had become largely depoliticized and had lost most of its neo-Nazi and far-right views, describing it as "a highly professional detachment for specific operations. Neither a political organization, nor a militia, nor a far-right battalion". Shekhovtsov also told the ''

'' that though it was originally formed by leadership of a neo-nazi group, "It is certain that Azov he battalionhas depoliticised itself. Its history linked to the far-right movement is pretty irrelevant today." Alexander Ritzmann, a Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, wrote of the Azov Battalion that same month that "when your country is under attack by foreign invaders, it is understandable that Ukrainians will not focus on the political views of their co-defenders, but on who can and will fight the invaders". In April 2022, Israeli historian and Nazi hunter

Efraim Zuroff Efraim Zuroff (; born August 5, 1948) is an American-born Israeli historian and Nazi hunter who has played a key role in bringing Nazi and fascist war criminals to trial. Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, is th ...

dismissed the claims that allegations made against the Azov regiment are part of Russian disinformation. He explained in an interview with the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'': "It's not Russian propaganda, far from it. These people are neo-Nazis. There is an element of the ultra-right in Ukraine and it's absurd to ignore it." In a May 2022 interview with ''

The Kyiv Independent ''The Kyiv Independent'' is an English-language Ukraine, Ukrainian online newspaper founded in November 2021, three months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, by former staff of the ''Kyiv Post'' and media c ...

'', Ilya Samoilenko, an Azov officer, stated that while he acknowledged the regiment's "obscure past", he and other members had chosen to leave the past behind when they integrated with the mainstream Ukrainian military. Similarly, in an interview with Israeli newspaper ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'', Azov deputy commander Sviatoslav Palamar denied the regiment being a neo-Nazi formation and said: "What is Nazism? When someone thinks that one nation is superior to another nation, when someone thinks he has a right to invade another country and destroy its inhabitants... We believe in our country's territorial integrity. We have never attacked anyone, and we have not wanted to do that." Vyacheslav Likhachev of the Centre for Civil Liberties, an expert on the far right, stated in April 2022 that there were no grounds for describing Azov as a neo-Nazi unit. "By the end of 2014", he wrote, "most of the Far Right fighters left the regiment. The rest of the Right-Wing radicals who openly articulated their views were "cleaned out" by the new regiment command in 2017." He characterised Biletsky's use of the Azov brand outside the Armed Forces of Ukraine as at attempt to build political capital, rather than an expression of organisational links. In June 2022, Colborne told ''

'' that the battalion has gone through changes over the years. After the first few years that the battalion was founded, only a small minority had far right connections. He noted that today, these numbers are even smaller and the use of neo-Nazi symbols among its members has been reduced greatly. Journalist Lev Golinkin, writing in June 2023, believed that there has never been a true depoliticization, and criticized the Western media's reporting on the brigade following the invasion, writing "for the West, it's appropriate to lionize neo-Nazis because they're fighting Russia". Writing in '' Tablet'' magazine, Vladislav Davidzon criticized Golinkin for "playing fast and loose with rhetoric" and having a "bugbear about Nazis in Ukraine". According to three researchers writing in 2023, Azov has, since its foundation, acted "with considerably less neo-Nazism and extremism, and included Muslims, Jews, and other minorities within its ranks". In April 2023, Colborne assessed that the brigade's priority had shifted from ideology to fighting the war effectively. He argued that any far-right elements within the Azov Regiment were likely to continue to become less significant as the unit expands and the war takes priority. In October 2023, Biletsky insisted that there was "no split" between "Azov" and the Third Assault Brigade. Ivan Katchanovski and Max Abrahms wrote in 2024 that claims that Azov had depoliticized "have tended to uncritically rely on Ukrainian and Western government narratives, accepting their claims at face value." They also stated that "Azov commanders never publicly renounced their neo-Nazi views, symbols, and organisations". They said that "the Azov regiment and its commanders maintained a close organisational and ideological relationship with the neo-Nazi National Corps".

Connection to antisemitism

The founder of the battalion, Andriy Biletsky, said in 2010 that the Ukrainian nation's mission is to "''lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led

Untermenschen ''Untermensch'' (; plural: ''Untermenschen'') is a German language word literally meaning 'underman', 'sub-man', or ' subhuman', which was extensively used by Germany's Nazi Party to refer to their opponents and non- Aryan people they deemed ...

''". According to the

initiative, Reporting Radicalism, Biletsky stopped making anti-Semitic statements after February 2014. But it said "anti-Semitism is sometimes manifested at the local level" of his political party. According to Vyacheslav Likhachev several Jewish soldiers (including one Israeli citizen) served amongst the "first fighters" of Azov in 2014. In 2016 the Vaad, a Ukrainian Jewish communal body consisting of a number of different organizations, supported the lifting of a US ban on funding the Azov Regiment. Representing the Vaad, Likhachev told ''

'', "It must be clearly understood; there is no kind of 'neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia' now. Azov is a regular military unit subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is not irregular division neither a political group. Its commanders and fighters might have personal political views as individuals, but as an armed police unit Azov is a part of the system of the Ukrainian defense forces." Some Ukrainian Jewish people support and serve in the Azov Regiment. A 2018 BBC report gave the example of one of its most prominent members, co-founder Nathan Khazin, a leader of the "Jewish hundreds" during the 2013

protests in Kyiv. Khazin and his supporters in the regiment often display the flag of the

with a

Star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...

added onto it. In 2022, in a commentary published by the Center of Civil Liberties, antisemitism researcher Vyacheslav Likhachev said that despite Mariupol's fairly large Jewish community, there had not been any incidents between members of the Azov Regiment and the Jewish community since 2014. Likhachev's analysis wa
republished
in a slightly-edited version by the Ukrainian View blog on 18 May 2022
archived version
. Colborne's June interview with ''Haaretz'' included mention that the Azov Battalion and the entire Azov movement are almost completely untainted by antisemitism. He said that not only for Azov, but for all the far-right movements in Ukraine, especially since 2014, antisemitism has lost its importance.

International arms and training controversies

United States

In March 2015, Ukrainian Interior Minister

announced that the Azov Regiment would be among the first units to be trained by

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

troops in the Operation Fearless Guardian training mission. US training however was withdrawn on 12 June 2015, as the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

passed an amendment blocking any aid (including arms and training) to the regiment due to its neo-Nazi background. However, the amendment was later removed in November 2015, with James Carden writing in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'' that an "official familiar with the debate" told him that the "House Defense Appropriations Committee came under pressure from

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

to remove the Conyers-Yoho amendment from the text of the bill." The decision was opposed by the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

which stated that lifting the ban highlighted the danger of Holocaust distortion in Ukraine, and by a

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

MP, but supported by Ukraine's Jewish community. In 2018, the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

again passed a provision blocking any training of Azov members by American forces, citing its neo-Nazi connections. In October 2019, members of the US House of Representatives from the Democratic Party requested that the Azov Regiment and two other far-right groups be classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department, citing recent acts of right-wing violence such as the

Christchurch mosque shootings Two consecutive mass shootings took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019. They were committed by a single perpetrator during Friday prayer, first at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton, at 1:40p.m. and almost immediately afterwards ...

earlier that year. The request spurred protests by Azov's supporters in Ukraine. Ultimately the regiment was not placed into the foreign terrorist organisation list. In June 2022, U.S. Representative

Jason Crow Jason Crow (born March 15, 1979) is an American politician, lawyer, and former U.S. Army officer serving since 2019 as the United States representative for . Crow is the first member of the Democratic Party to represent the district, which e ...

, who signed the 2019 letter, told ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' that he was "not aware of any information that currently shows a direct connection f Azov fightersto extremism now", also adding "I am sensitive to the fact that the past isn't necessarily prologue here, that groups can change and evolve and that the war might have changed the organization." In early 2022, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US continued to officially ban arms support to Azov via the yearly Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 following the 2018 provision. However, prominent lawmakers, when pressed about monitoring this rule, stated "our main goal is to aid the Ukrainians in their defense", according to Senator

Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal ( ; born February 13, 1946) is an American politician, lawyer, and United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from ...

of the US

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services, sometimes abbreviated SASC for Senate Armed Services Committee, is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defen ...

. In June 2024, following the US State Department's lifting of restrictions on the Azov Brigade, the unit is no longer banned from US arms support, with officials stating that because the Azov Battalion of 2014 is structurally distinct from the Azov Brigade within the National Guard, restrictions due to US appropriations laws no longer apply. It was lifted after, according to the

United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

in Washington, there was no evidence of any human rights violations and also to bolster the brigade’s fighting capacity at a challenging time during the war against Russia’s invasion, with Ukraine struggling amid persistent shortages of ammunition and personnel. The

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintain ...

was established after reports that the Azov Brigade was violating

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and committing

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

and also due to the implicit bias against certain ethnic and religious groups due to the allegations of

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xe ...

and

ideologies being present of the brigade's members. The law that made this sanction applicable was Leahy's Law, an act sponsored in 1997 by then-

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy ( ; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who represented Vermont in the United States Senate from 1975 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he also was the pr ...

in order to find a foreign military unit that has committed various violations of the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

and human rights can be cut off from assistance from the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

Canada

In June 2015, the Canadian defense minister declared that Canadian forces would not provide training or support to the Azov Regiment. There is mounting evidence that Canada helped train members of

Centuria ''Centuria'' (; : ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of ...

(a far-right group of military officers, tied to the Azov movement and regiment). This was during

Operation UNIFIER Operation UNIFIER was the Canadian Armed Forces and French Armed Forces mission to bolster the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine through the provision of critical military training. It was launched in 2015 in response to the 2014 Anne ...

, a $890 million project to train the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

. In 2021, a report from

discovered that extremists from this group were bragging about being trained by Canadian forces. In addition, an investigation by

discovered that Canadian officials met with leaders from the Azov Regiment in 2018, and that Canadian officials did not denounce the unit's neo-Nazi beliefs. Canadian officials were more concerned that the media would expose the meeting. Canadian officers and diplomats were photographed with battalion officials which was subsequently used as propaganda by Azov.

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

found evidence on the social media account of an Azov leader of the unit's members training with Canadian instructors in 2019. The Canadian military has denied any knowledge that extremists were trained by Canadian forces.

Israel

In 2018, more than 40 Israeli human rights activists signed a petition to stop arms sales to Ukraine, saying there was evidence some of these arms might end up in the hands of the forces that the activists said openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology, such as the Azov Regiment. In 2022, ''

'' raised concerns about the

MATADOR A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

anti-tank weapon, co-developed by Germany, Israel and Singapore, being shown in videos fired by a fighter from what it characterized as "the Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion".

Greece

In April 2022, a controversy occurred in

when Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared with a soldier from the Azov Regiment via video link to address the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

. This soldier had allegedly been chosen to speak on the destruction of Mariupol because of his Greek ethnicity and knowledge of the language. The appearance caused outrage by opposition parties

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

and KINAL and was labelled a "provocation" because of the association of the Azov Regiment with neo-Nazism. , spokesperson of the Greek Government, said the inclusion of the Azov Regiment message was "incorrect and inappropriate", but criticized SYRIZA for using the incident for political gain.

Use in Russian propaganda and information campaigns

Pre-2022

researcher Andreas Umland notes "a contradictory, if not paradoxical history of cooperation" of organizations, involved in the creation of Azov, with anti-Euromaidan and the Russian neo-Nazi figures. More academic researchers note the connection between extremist groups within Ukraine and Russian intelligence services, where Russia utilizes these far-right groups as tools for its hybrid

warfare. One of the tactics Russia used was to employ these groups, contribute to their growth and expose their extremes to indirectly advance Russian narratives. The regiment, along with other similar groups, has been central to Russia's narrative that there is a Nazi influence that permeates Ukraine, justifying intervention by the Russian armed forces in efforts to "denazify" it. The unit is regularly singled out by Russia as proof that the Ukrainian armed forces are plagued with neo-Nazism. This narrative has been a part of Russian propaganda since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, according to Russia scholar Izabella Tabarovsky of the

Wilson Center The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicated to research and policy discussions on global issues. Established by an act of Congress in 1968, it serves as both ...

, who said "there has been an intensive campaign of demonization, a certain resonance for Putin's core supporters in Russia" because "there is a national historical memory formed around World War II and the victory over Nazis. It is a strong part of the ussiannational identity." During the early days of the war in Donbas, mostly in 2015–2017, Azov was featured in various fabricated videos by Russia and Russia-linked groups. Shortly before the 2016 Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum, a video appeared of fighters supposedly from Azov. In it, the fighters burned a Dutch flag and threatened terrorist strikes if the referendum failed. They said "We will find you everywhere: in the cinema, at work, in your bedroom, public transport, we have our guys in the Netherlands, ready to follow any order." The video, according to a Bellingcat investigation, was produced and distributed by the

Internet Research Agency The Internet Research Agency (IRA; ; 2013-2023), also known as ''Glavset'' (, ), and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino () or Kremlinbots (), was a Russian company which was engaged in online propaganda and influence ...

and spread virally before being posted by the group that sponsored the referendum. In another instance, CyberBerkut, which portrayed itself as disgruntled Ukrainians but was later linked to the

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

, leaked a fabricated video portraying

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

soldiers supposedly fighting in Azov. According to the

's Digital Forensic Research Lab, this was part of a broader narrative surrounding Muslim soldiers in various units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, most notably

. In another video, a follow-up to the

atrocity propaganda Atrocity propaganda is the spreading of information about the crimes committed by an enemy, which can be factual, but often includes or features deliberate fabrications or exaggerations. This can involve photographs, videos, illustrations, interv ...

Crucified boy-series of videos, acting as "punishers", members of Azov supposedly crucify and burn a separatist. Some of these resurfaced once again after the 2022 invasion on social media. During the war in Donbas, the unit was represented as similar in composition to the unit in the 2014–2015 timeframe, despite international observers in Donbas and other people saying otherwise. Especially in parts of central/eastern Europe, this was potentiated with manipulated imagery on social media, and the appearance of pro-Kremlin propaganda that mirrored pejorative language used in Russian media that painted Ukraine as a fascist aggressor against a Russian minority. In addition, Azov was attributed as responsible for a significant portion of the civilian deaths in Donbas.

Russian invasion

In justifying the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the narrative oriented around Ukrainian neo-Nazism continued, and the Azov Regiment has similarly played a central role under the pretext of "denazifying" Ukraine, with Russian media claiming its overwhelming presence and influence within Ukraine to paint a picture of the whole of the Ukrainian government and military as under Nazi control. In addition, another of Russia's claimed justifications for its invasion was that members of the Azov Regiment in Mariupol were responsible for war crimes. Chief Spokesman Igor Konashenkov of Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed: "It was these Azov Battalion Nazis who had been exterminating civilian population in Donetsk and Luhansk republics, deliberately and with exceptional cruelty, for eight years." Russian leaders have sometimes made aggressive denouncements of

. For example, former Russian President and Prime Minister

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

said "to dehumanise and denigrate Russia, "the crazed beasts of the nationalist and territorial defense battalions are ready to kill Ukrainian civilians"; all because "the very essence of Ukrainianness, fed by anti-Russian venom and lies about its identity, is one big sham. Ukrainian identity does not exist and never has". Azov has also featured in Chinese social media and news outlets in a similar fashion to Russian media. Azov's connections to neo-Nazism are often depicted as indicative of the views of Ukrainian society more widely despite Azov Regiment being a fringe group. After the war started, Chinese media attempted to link imagery of some Azov veterans in the

2019–2020 Hong Kong protests The 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests (also known by other names) were a series of demonstrations against the Hong Kong government's introduction of a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in regard to extradition. It was the largest ...

as proof the US was funding members of Azov to attend rallies and sow discord. According to radicalism researcher Vyacheslav Likhachev, these were people who participated as part of the group "Honor", which he no longer considers far right. During the Siege of Mariupol, Russia was accused of using the presence of Azov in the battle as justification for

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s. Russian foreign minister

Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004. He is the longest-serving Russian foreign minister since Andrei Gromyko d ...

justified the Mariupol hospital airstrike by claiming that Azov was using the hospital as a base and had previously evicted the patients and staff. On 16 March, the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater, Donetsk Regional Drama Theater, which was sheltering almost 1,300 civilians, was Mariupol theatre airstrike, struck and largely destroyed by an airstrike. Russia denied the bombings and claimed that the Azov Regiment had taken civilians as hostages inside the building and bombed the theater themselves to frame Russia. This was sharply disputed by Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region administration, who asserted that "the Russians are already lying, [saying] that the headquarters of the Azov Regiment was there. But they themselves are well aware that there were only civilians." Due to the increased prevalence of fact-checking websites, Russia, in counter-disinformation, utilized fake fact checking websites to counter common narratives in the west. For example, in the case of the Mariupol theater bombing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs started linking to a site that declared the images, videos and foreign news reports that attributed it to a Russian airstrike as fake, and instead, the site was used to add credence to the narrative according to which Azov had mined the building. After the discovery of the Bucha massacre following the end of the Battle of Kyiv (2022), Battle of Kyiv, Russia and Russian media offered multiple contradictory explanations, in an approach disinformation experts called a "Firehose of falsehood, scattershot approach". In one of these narratives, Russian media claimed people associated with Azov and/or Azov fighters killed anyone not wearing a pro-Ukrainian blue ribbon after Russian troops left. International media have disproved this timeline using other evidence. The Azov-Kyiv territorial defense unit had been in the Kyiv area, according to Maksym Zhorin. In a post on 20 April 2022, Russian journalist wrote on his

page, ('The Commissar Vanishes'), that following the Russian occupation of Mariupol, Azov leaders such as Prokopenko should be publicly executed and their bodies left to hang "as a reminder of who was in charge." The Supreme Court of Russia, Russian Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for 29 June 2022, on whether or not to classify the Azov Regiment as a terrorist organization. It was subsequently rescheduled to 2 August 2022. On 2 August, the Supreme Court declared the regiment as a terrorist organization. This allows for harsher penalties to be imposed on members of the Azov Regiment. Members face up to 10 years in jail while leaders face up to 20 years. This decision supports "the use of Russian criminal law against

", and opens the possibility to manipulate with the accusations of

s and fictional charges "to punish participants in the Ukrainian war".

Sham trials in Russia

The Azov Regiment led the Siege of Mariupol, defense of Mariupol at the beginning of Russia's Russian invasion of Ukraine, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were Siege of Mariupol#Ukrainian surrender, taken prisoners by Russia in Mariupol in May 2022. In August 2022, Russia declared the Azov regiment as a terrorist organization. This decision supports "the use of Russian criminal law against

", and opens the possibility to manipulate with the accusations of

s and fictional charges "to punish participants in the Ukrainian war". In 2023 Russia began criminal prosecutions against members of the Azov Regiment, on the charges of involvement in a terrorist organization and taking part in action to overthrow the Russia-backed authorities in the Donetsk region. Most of the Ukrainians standing trials in Russia are members of

, which, according to Human Rights Watch, HRW, makes them prisoners of war with corresponding status and protections per the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. According to HRW and

, the charges are War crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, war crimes and, per HRW, are an excuse to prosecute Ukrainian soldiers for participating in the conflict. As international lawyer Maksym Vishchyk notes, "Russian Show trial, sham trials thus appear to entirely negate these core IHL principles, and appear aimed at ''de facto'' legitimizing revenge against the POWs for fighting in defense of their country." An OSCE report of December 2023 stated that "trials have raised questions as to their fairness, impartiality and independence, and appear to violate a range of IHL rules, including that combatants cannot be prosecuted merely for their participation in hostilities, as well as the prohibitions on exposing POWs to public curiosity, on subjecting them to ill-treatment and on coercing admissions of guilt." Ukrainian officials have characterized the trials as a media campaign for Russian auditory. Russia appears to use fictional justice trials to legitimize "revenge against the POWs for fighting in defense of their country". Russia uses sham trials, or kangaroo courts, to persuade own Russians that "Ukrainian fighters are allegedly committing crimes against their own population." On one of the hearings in 2023, at least three of the POWs have asserted ill-treatment during detention and forceful confessions, and two have reported of health deterioration. As reported by HRW, "in courtroom photos from the hearing, the defendants appear exhausted and thin." "Prosecuting prisoners of war for participation in the conflict, depriving them of their fair trial rights, and subjecting them to torture or inhuman treatment are all breaches of the Geneva Conventions and war crimes. The Russian authorities should immediately drop all charges against the Azov defendants."

References

Notes

External links

* {{authority control 2014 establishments in Ukraine Far-right movements in Europe Donetsk Oblast in the Russo-Ukrainian War Military units and formations established in 2014 Neo-Nazism in Ukraine Paramilitary forces of Ukraine Volunteer National Guard units of Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Donbas Organizations designated as terrorist by Russia Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas Brigades of the National Guard of Ukraine Propaganda in Russia

History

Background and founding, February–April 2014

Special Tasks Patrol Police, May 2014

Reorganisation and incorporation into the National Guard of Ukraine, November 2014

Battle of Shyrokyne, January 2015

2016–2019

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Defense of Mariupol

Other 'Azov' units

Structure

Battalion (May–September 2014)

Regiment (September 2014–2022)

Brigade (from February 2023)

Leadership and organisation

Commanders

Status

Foreign fighters

Azov movement

Azov Civil Corps

National Corps

Youth Corps

National Militia, 2017–2020

Centuria

Human rights violations

Neo-Nazi origins and allegations of ongoing far-right associations

2014 formation

Symbolism (2014-present)

Official symbols

Interpretations

Reports of far-right insignia displayed by individual soldiers

2014 incorporation into the National Guard

Since the 2022 full-scale invasion

Connection to antisemitism

International arms and training controversies

United States

Canada

Israel

Greece

Use in Russian propaganda and information campaigns

Pre-2022

Russian invasion

Sham trials in Russia

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

External links